Colville High (5-2, 7-3-1) heads into the final week of Northeast A League boyâ€™s soccer play needing to keep winning to annex their second straight league championship and garner a coveted opening round bye and District 7 1A championship host role next week.
The top three NEA teams will advance to the post-season, which will start next Tuesday with NEA no. 2 hosting NEA no. 3. The District title match-up is scheduled for next Wednesday or Thursday at the home of the league champion.
Colville is assured of no worse than a second place finish and a first round host role next week.
But the Indians are after moreâ€”much more.
â€śWe want to keep winning and beat Newport and Lakeside this week,â€ť CHS coach Dave Rarrick said. â€śIf we win out, we will win the league championship.â€ť
Lakeside (6-1-0, 8-5) is currently in first place entering the final week of regular season play. The Eaglesâ€™ lone loss to date was last Thursdayâ€™s 2-0 shutout defeat on the Colville pitch.
Newport is 2-5, 3-7 and Riverside is fourth at 1-6, 2-8.
THIS WEEK
Colville hosted Newport on Tuesday in a Senior Day game on the CHS pitch. On Thursday, Colville travels to Nine Mile Falls and the pivotal Lakeside rematch (4 p.m.).
RECAP
Colville, back to full strength for the first time in quite awhile, played like a team with something to prove last week. Back on April 17, Colville edged Newport in Pend Oreille County, 2-1.
Colville got first half goals from senior Luke Melvin (four-minutes) and Filipp Susin (12 minutes).
There was no scoring in the second half.
Colville keeper Nevin Thompson, this weekâ€™s Colville Benchwarmerâ€™s Athlete of the Week, had five saves.
Colville got 19 shots.

Fast start

On Thursday, CHS got off to a fast early start, scoring in the gameâ€™s first two-minutes on freshman Chris Bensonâ€™s goal. Melvin got the assist.
Colville scored an insurance goal at the 33-minute mark of the first half when Sergy Kalina scored his first goal of the season.
Rarrick was pleased that the Indians were able to get back to playing their game against the physical Eaglesâ€™ side.
â€śThe first time we played them, we kind of got out of our game plan with their physicality. We werenâ€™t ready for that. We were able to get back to our planâ€¦we played wellâ€¦we passed well,â€ť Rarrick said of the win over Lakeside.
Colville got 12 shots on goal. LHS had 10.
Thompson was credited with 10 saves in goal.
In a 2-0 shutout win over Riverside on the road last Saturday, the Indians broke open a scoreless first half with a Susin goal at the 42-minute mark of the second half. Melvin followed that up with a deep bomb at the 55-minute mark.
Colville got 20 shots on goal. RHS had seven. Thompson had four saves in goal.
OUTLOOK
Rarrick is confident that the Indians can stay on a roll, particularly with Kris Griessmann and Pavel Susin back in the line-up.
â€śBoth of those players are crucial for us and are our whole right side, really,â€ť Rarrick said.